STIMOROL ENGADINWIND – DAY 2
Two Races at the Engadinwind.com in Silvaplana
+++ Silvaplana, St. Moritz (Switzerland), August 11th 2007.
Two races were sailed on the second day of the Engadinwind.com in
Silvaplana. The RS-X Vice World Champion Przemek ‘Pont’ Miarczcynski
(POL-126, F2, Gaastra) presented a strong performance with a victory in race
one and a third place in race two. The Belgium hotshot Pascal Somers (BEL-7,
AHD, Severne Sails) dominated the second race. Unfortunately the conditions
were not consistent enough so that the two races are only fun races and
don¹t count for the official result list of the Euro-Cup Silvaplana.
The wind gave the organizers of the STIMOROL ENGADINWIND.COM a hard time:
Two air currents were fighting with each other. We had a northern wind
bringing clouds and a southern breeze which can be accelerated by the
thermics to transform into the famous Maloja wind. But the two forces were
even joined by a third player! In the afternoon the Julierwind kicked in
blowing down over Silvaplana from the Julierpass. The wind was strong enough
for free windsurfing but not consistent enough for official racing. The
organization made the best out of the difficult situation and decided to run
two fun races. A figure eight slalom course was set up an almost the entire
competitors went out for the full fleet race.
In the first race the conditions were very unstable, especially at the
start. Przemek ³Pont² Miarczcynski, the RS-X Vice World Champion from Poland
made the best out of the situation and was able to dominate in front of the
Formula Windsurfing European Champion of 2006, Ross Williams (GBR-83, Tabou,
Gaastra) from Great Britain. Yoann Fleury (FRA-730, Starboard, Severne) from
France got third in front of Mantas Gresevicius (LTU-13) from Lithuania and
Claudio Fackelmann (GER-997) from Germany. As conditions got better and
numerous spectators were enthusiastic about the spectacular action it was
decided to run another fun race.
This time it was the young hotshot Pascal Somers from Belgium who was able
to dominate. ³Danish Dynamite² Jesper Vesterström (DEN-111, Starboard, Neil
Pryde) presented explosive speed and got third. Przemek ³Pont² Miarczcynski
confirmed his performance from race one with an impressive third place.
Adriaan van Rijsselberghe (NED-2, JP, Neil Pryde) got fourth in front of
Wilhelm Schurmann (BRA-999, Starboard, Neil Pryde) from Brasil.
Some of the other favourites preferred to save their energy and equipment
for the official races tomorrow. ³I am perfectly set up with my equipment
and cannot risk to damage anything² confirmed Steve Allen, the current
Formula Windsurfing World Champion from Australia. 36-times World Champion
Björn Dunkerbek tried hard but in the gusty and shifty conditions he was
stuck in the fleet which made it impossible for him to present his normal
speed.
In the addition of both races Przemek ³Pont² Miarczcynski is leading in
front of Yoann Fleury and Ariaan van Rijsselberghe. Tomorrow is the final
day of the ENGADINWIND.COM. The skippers meeting is scheduled for 11:00 with
the first possible start at 12:00. The forecast looks a little bit more
promising then for the last two days. So we hope to be able to get some good
races done before the prize giving which is set for 18:00. Tonight all the
riders, the organization and numerous party guests will celebrate the 30th
anniversary of the Engadin Surf Marathon on the top station of the Mount
Corvatsch.
The official website of the event is www.engadinwind.com. The official
website of the Windsurfing Euro-Cup series with more information is
www.euro-cup.org. Besides the reports and the results you will also find a
live ticker on www.euro-cup.org
